Solid-state lighting systems use solid state light sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), and are increasingly being used to replace other, traditional lighting systems, such as incandescent or fluorescent lamps. Solid-state light sources offer several advantages over the traditional lamps, such as rapid turn-on, rapid cycling (on-off-on) times, long useful life span, low power consumption, narrow-emitted light bandwidths that eliminate the need for color filters to provide desired colors, and so on.
LED lighting systems require what is known as a driver. An LED driver is a self-contained power supply that has outputs matched to the electrical requirements of the LED(s). LED drivers may enable dimming by means of pulse-width modulation circuits. Further, drivers may have more than one channel for separate control of different LEDs or LED arrays. The driver typically consists of a printed circuit board (PCB) for connecting the LED to an electrical power supply. The PCB driver may be mounted on the base of an LED lighting fixture or, alternatively, may be positioned remotely from the LED fixture. Many residential and commercial lighting applications rely on traditional screw-based sockets intended for incandescent bulbs or fixtures. These traditional sockets are not optimally designed to dissipate heat generated by higher output LED fixtures. In order to be used with traditional screw-based sockets, LED fixtures must contain both the LED lighting package and the driver in a form resembling the traditional incandescent bulb. Many existing screw-based sockets can only support lower output LED fixtures comparable to incandescent bulbs rated at 60 watts or less.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved LED lighting array. The present novel technology addresses this need.